WTO awards South Korea $85 million against U.S. over washing machine tariffs

2 Min Read

FILE PHOTO - A truck drives between shipping containers at a container terminal at Incheon port in Incheon, South Korea, May 26, 2016.REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) - South Korea can impose annual trade sanctions of $84.81 million on the United States after challenging U.S. anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on washing machines, a World Trade Organization arbitration panel ruled on Friday.

The sum was much less than the $711 million that South Korea had asked for, but the arbitration ruling also provided a sanctions formula for South Korea to apply in the future, in case the United States imposes similar tariffs on other products in breach of the WTO rules.

South Korea initially went to the WTO after a 2013 decision by the U.S. Commerce Department to impose anti-subsidy duties of up to 82 percent on washers made by Samsung Electronics Co, LG Electronics Inc and Daewoo Electronics Co, prompted by Michigan-based Whirlpool Corp.

South Korea complained to the WTO about the methodology used to calculate the duties and won an appeal ruling at the WTO in 2016. It later complained that the United States had not lifted the duties to comply with the WTO ruling, and demanded the right to impose sanctions.